GEOG 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Lingua Franca, Himalayas, Eurasian Plate
53 views5 pages
Published on 4 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter Eight
South Asia
Major Geographic Qualities
• Clearly defined physiographically
o Mountain—Himalayas
o Desert – Thar
o Ocean – Indian
o Great rivers
• Origin of major religions
o Hinduism
o Buddhism
o Sikhism
o Jainism
• Monsoon culture
The Geographic Panorama
• Subcontinent
• Divided Indian Ocean between Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal
• Marked by mountains and deserts
• British Empire – unifying force
• Partitions in 1947 based on religion (Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist)
• Disputed territory – Kashmir
• English as Lingua franca
Physiography
A Tectonic Encounter
• Spectacular relief in north
• Collision of Indian and Eurasian Plate
o Accordion – like folds of Himalaya Mountains
o One of most earthquake-prone areas on Earth
• Permanent snow and ice provides meltwater to great rivers
• Headwaters of great rivers
o Ganges River
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Chapter Eight
o Indus River
o Brahmana River
Religion
Aryans and the Origins of Hinduism
• 1500 BC northern India invaded by Aryans speaking Indo-European languages
• Sanskrit – language related to Old Persian
• Hinduism – emerged from Vedism texts
• Social stratification system
o Solidified hegemony of Aryans
o Organized villages into controlled networks
o Small city-states emerged
• Caste system – class-based
o Brahmins and Untouchables
o Caste determined by past lives
o Eroding in cities due to globalization and urbanization
Hinduism
• 3rd largest religion in the world – 900 million adherents
• largest ethnic religion by far
o ethnic religion – you are born into an ethnic religion
• 97 percent of Hindus are found in India
• Polytheistic
• No central authority or single holy book
• Many paths to spirituality
• One of world’s oldest religions
Buddhism
• 3rd largest universalizing religions
• 400 million adherents (difficult to count)
• large clusters in China, SE Asia, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka (70% of population)
• Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama, 6th century BC, prince from N. India
• Buddhism spread much later, 2nd century BC
Other Indigenous (Ethnic) Religions
• Jainism – developed alongside Hinduism, more purist, principled, and deeply spiritual
(less than 1% of population)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com